Even though there's still almost two-thirds of the regular season schedule left to be played, Thursday night's road win against the Seattle Seahawks felt like a desperately-needed victory for the San Francisco 49ers, who had gotten off to a 2-3 start over the first five games.
The 49ers lost two games in that five-game stretch they shouldn't have -- games against the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals in which they had double-digit leads in the third quarter. As a result, it left them in a spot they didn't want to be in heading into a difficult stretch of schedule that features numerous playoff-contending teams.
"I think there was (a sense of urgency), yeah," defensive end Nick Bosa said Thursday night. "You obviously want to bring a high sense of urgency every game, but when your backs are against the wall, it kind of brings it out of you."
For a while it felt like another blown lead might happen again on Thursday when the Seahawks fought back to be within 23-17 after trailing the 49ers 23-3 early in the third quarter. Linebacker Fred Warner admitted as much after the game, but pointed out the 49ers made it a point to choose a different path this time.
"A thousand percent," Warner said when asked if the thought of blowing another lead crept into his mind. "It sucks, but yes, it was something that felt familiar, for sure. And I'm like, hey, we can go one or two ways right here. We can stand tall in a hostile environment in the game that we know that we got to get or we can settle for exactly how we've been playing the last couple of losses we've had. And that's what I'm probably most proud about right now is the way we stood up."
So, just days after their ugly loss to the Cardinals that left plenty of fans scratching their heads over what path the 49ers were heading on this season, the team seems to be once again moving in the right direction, and now has a few much-needed extra days of rest to heal up before a Super Bowl rematch against the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs. We'll talk a little bit about that game and more in this version of 49ers Notebook.
Let's not keep doing that, okay?
Four days after the 49ers lost kicker Jake Moody to an ankle injury while he made a tackle on a kickoff, the status of their new kicker, Matthew Wright, was in doubt after Thursday's game when he too got hurt attempting to make a tackle on a kickoff towards the end of the game.
Wright went 3-for-3 on field goals in his 49ers debut before he walked off with shoulder pain on the last kickoff. When asked after the game if he challenges his kickers to make tackles, head coach Kyle Shanahan sounded like a coach who was wondering if it was worth it for kickers to go out of their way to make a play.
"Hell no," Shanahan said. "I don't. I don't know how I feel about that anymore. When they break through and they're the only line left, I would never be the coach that says just let them score, but dang, that's two weeks in a row. And I just got his name last night."
That said, Shanahan applauded Wright's performance in his debut as well as the play he made on the kickoff. Ideally, the 49ers won't have to search for another kicker before Moody returns.
"He was three-for-three on field goals and it was huge for him to stop them," Shanahan said. "I mean, they looked like they could have scored if he wasn't there. So I just hope he's all right."
Marquee matchup
The San Francisco 49ers have accomplished just about everything in recent seasons except beat the Kansas City Chiefs, which they'll get another chance to do on October 20.
The Chiefs have two Super Bowl wins over the 49ers in the Shanahan era, the most recent coming in last year's game in a 25-22 overtime heartbreaker. The Chiefs have also won their only two regular season meetings against Shanahan -- a 38-27 win at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City in 2018 in which the 49ers lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a season-ending injury, and a 43-22 blowout victory against the 49ers at Levi's Stadium in 2022.
This year's Chiefs team stands at 5-0 and will be coming to Levi's Stadium off a bye week. There will undoubtedly be plenty of hype surrounding the game after what happened in the Super Bowl, but 49ers left tackle Trent Williams suggested he'll be looking at the matchup like any other on the schedule.
"It's another game," Williams said. "I mean, it's not like we can get payback for losing in a Super Bowl. That ship has sailed. So it's another game. We've got to come out and try to play complimentary football. Obviously, we know what type of team that is -- one of the best teams in the league, all-star quarterback, you know, great coach. So it's going to be a tough game regardless. We're going to take these three days off and regroup and come try to put a complete game together."
Still, chances are there will be an extra edge to the 49ers on October 20, considering it would be a relief for them to finally win one against Kansas City. The Chiefs are just one team in a stretch of schedule that includes games against the Cowboys, Bills, Packers, Buccaneers, and Seahawks (again), but a win would put the 49ers at 4-3 instead of 3-4 and would give them a head of steam as they head towards November, while also maybe slaying a mental demon along the way.
"Obviously this was a big one to get and now we have a little time to get some guys healthy and then, yeah," Bosa said. "I mean, we have a long road ahead and it starts with the team that we haven't beat yet since I've been here, so definitely trying to get the monkey off our back with that one."
Bringing the pressure
The Seahawks had their hands full Thursday night against Bosa, who was recorded as having 14 pressures against quarterback Geno Smith. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Thursday night's game was the seventh of Bosa's career in which he had 10 or more pressures, which is three more than any player since he entered the league in 2019. Bosa wasn't surprised to find out he had that many pressures against the Seahawks on Thursday.
"Yeah, it felt that way," Bosa joked.
Still, Bosa came out of the game without being credited with a sack. That's something he'd like to change in the future.
"It's a finishing business, especially when you're me and you're expected to finish," Bosa said. "There's a couple close ones there where it was almost ball out, game over, and I just got to keep going. It's a long year and just look at the tape and try and finish those because that's what players like me need to do."
Love to hate me
Tight end George Kittle has spoken more than once in the past about how much he enjoys playing in Seattle because of the venom the fans show towards the 49ers. It was on display again Thursday night, which made the fact the 49ers were able to hold off the Seahawks even sweeter to Kittle, who caught two touchdowns in the game.
"Our team's been in those situations and we've done pretty good with those, especially now here on the road in Seattle with an amazing fan base who just despises us, which I absolutely love," Kittle said. "It's actually fun."
Kittle actually decided to troll one of those fans on his way off the field. As seen in the video below, Kittle threw his hat to one Seahawks fan in particular, something that brought some extra joy to Kittle after the win.
These @49ers fans are getting LOUD for George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk!#TNFonPrime pic.twitter.com/OPArfmaa4o
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) October 11, 2024
"The guy in the corner with all the crazy signs, I gave him my hat after the game," Kittle said. "I don't think he liked it. I enjoyed that one."
